Wading/Waiting in the Waters for God

The cares of this world are often like a storming current, wanting to push you back and forth with every wave of fear or discontentment. Situations arise that move you to anger and consume your mind with frustration. Allowing these situations to overcome you result in irrational and careless behavior. They are the ways of this world, constantly enticing you to live in your flesh. There’s a song by the band Loud Harp, called the fire and the flood, which God spoke to me through the other day. The lyric was this “Wade in the waters, God is going to trouble the waters.” This troubling of the waters is not referring to any kind of turmoil or trial. It’s a move of situations, a move of circumstances. Picture it: you’re slowing walking through a lake, water splashing against your waist. The water has a slight resistance to it; moving takes more work, more energy. It pushes against you, gently encouraging you to let go and follow its current instead. To wade through water, to wade through the cares of this world, the flesh and all the struggles it brings, requires patience, strength, and endurance. Sometimes the temptation to succumb to the pressure of this water is overwhelming. But even in these moments, when the current is pulling you harder than you can stand, God is going to come and trouble the waters. He will disturb the current of this world that is coming against you. He will surround you with peace and strengthen you to stand. It’s a combination of wading and waiting for God. Waiting on God to trouble the waters will result in you moving into a perfect posture. It will result in you moving into that place and position that God wants you in: But you must wade, and not succumb.

Saul, the first King of Israel, experienced this as well. Unfortunately when the water become violent and the current stiffened like a wall against him, he let go and let the water move him as it wished. Saul had only been King for 2 years when the Philistines came up against Israel to Michmash. The Philistine’s army had, “people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude.” 1 Samuel 13:5 All of Israel was distressed; some hid themselves in caves, others fled to neighboring kingdoms. Even the soldiers that followed Saul toward the battle trembled. The waters began to quicken.

Samuel, the prophet, told Saul to wait in Gilgal for 7 days until he arrived. Samuel would then offer a sacrifice to the Lord before they went into battle against the Philistines. As we see, “he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.” 1 Samuel 13:8

So he waited the 7 days as he was told. This is good. The current was pushing against him, yet he resisted – for a time. But when 7 days were up, he became frantic. Scripture states that the people began to leave him. His own soldiers were abandoning the fight in fear. Samuel still hadn’t come. The waters thrashed against Saul; all hope seemed lost.

This is the moment of choice. The moment where character is determined. Are you going to sink your feet into the mud and be a wall against the current itself, trusting that God is going to come? Or are you going to succumb, let go, and let the waters of this world carry you wherever it chooses?

Saul chose option number 2.

He gave up and allowed the water to overpower him. It beat around him, consuming him. The current of fear and panic rushed into his heart and mind. He took matters into his own hands. He brought out the offerings and sacrificed to the Lord, himself. But… “as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came” 1 Samuel 13:10

Saul thought he had done a good thing. After all, he waited the time allotted, but Samuel didn’t come. So he just made the sacrifice to the Lord himself. What’s wrong with that? Sacrificing to the Lord is always a good thing, yeah? Well, not necessarily… For just a little later Samuel speaks these words to Saul, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

The Lord wanted Saul to wait; even when all hope seemed lost. The Lord seeks a heart with such devotion. He wanted to change Saul’s circumstance Himself. He wanted to see him stand strong against the waters of this world, having faith in Him. God wanted to come and make His own way of peace through water for Saul; to bring him into a position where He could establish his kingdom in Israel forever. But now that chance was gone.

 “Samuel said to Saul, thou has done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” 1 Samuel 13:13-14

Saul’s impatience and disobedience exposed a lack of trust and hope in God. He allowed himself to be moved by the waters, thinking this would bring him into a position he thought best. But he ended up moving into a place where God could no longer bless him. He resisted not the world and its pulling temptations, but rather gave himself to them.

God wants to bless you. He wants to give you every good thing. But sometimes it requires simply wading through the waters of this world. Sure, you’re probably not up against quite the same pressure Saul was…thousands of men waiting to kill him and his own soldiers abandoning him. But the concept is the same nonetheless. You feel like the appointed time has come, and God still hasn’t shown up. The waters have rose up against you and the current is pulling you under. Hope seems like a far thing. But it’s in this moment that God is staring right at you, watching how you’re going to react. This is what trust means: that even in these moments, you look up toward Him and smile. For you know that He is going to come and trouble the waters. The cares of this world, that try to ensnare us, will tremble before Him. He will come and reveal His way through every situation; a way with a current of peace, that will carry you to the place where He will establish and bless you forever.